This invention relates generally to horological devices and more particularly to a personal memory apparatus for emitting a plurality of sequentially occurring reminding signals for enhancing the memory of the user.
Timing and alarm apparatus are in wide use for reminding a user to attend to a particular task. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,408 discloses a timer and alarm apparatus suitable for complementary use with medication containers. The user may preselect a desired time interval and an alarm signals the conclusion thereof by emitting a plurality of signals equally spaced apart in time. A reset unit permits reinitiation of a next successive interval. While the time interval selected by the user may vary, all intervals, once selected, are of the same duration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,133 describes a watch having means for generating an audible signal upon the lapse of each consecutively-occurring time interval, each interval having the same preselected duration. A signal occurs on each occasion when the time progression of a counter is coincident with a time stored in the watch memory unit.
Yet another type of signal-emitting device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244.042 and is arranged for emitting an audible alarm at a preset time. When manually disabled and reset, the device is thereby automatically caused to emit a signal at the next preset alarm time. If no manual disablement occurs, the signal is automatically silenced after a predetermined duration.
While these known devices may be employed for a variety of signaling or alarm purposes, they have failed to appreciate or satisfy the need for a personal memory enhancing apparatus which, once actuated, will automatically provide a plurality of sequentially occurring signals to the user, the signals being spaced by time intervals of differing durations, thereby providing a sense of progressively decreasing or increasing urgency, depending upon the construction of the apparatus. It is known, for example, that human memory becomes more retentive if a thought to be recalled is repetitively and more rapidly reinforced at the onset. It is also known that, psychologically, a user will become annoyed by additional reminding signals equally spaced in time, once the thought is reinforced. This annoyance may cause the user to disable the apparatus with consequent risk of loss of the thought.
The aforementioned devices have also failed to appreciate how such an apparatus may be constructed of integrated circuits and subminiature components so that it is relatively small and may be unobtrusively carried upon the person.